TartanFest, April 14, 2007
Golf highlights TartanFest
By Rachel Haynie

Robin All, known to many as a golf doctor, will talk at TartanFest about the state's long love affair with the Scottish game that became a multi- million dollar U.S. sport.

New to the lineup of offerings at this year's TartanFest is golf. The annual event is coming April 14 to the S.C. State Museum.

Robin All will talk at 3 pm in the Red Room about this beloved Scottish import.

S.C.'s golf timeline began in 1743 when a shipment of 96 golf clubs and 432 golf balls arrived in Charleston from the port of Leith, Scotland. It ends annually in nearby Augusta at the Masters' Tournament. The South Carolina Encyclopedia , published by the University of South Carolina Press, also notes other interesting golf facts in its substantial entry on the sport.

State promotions now tout the nearby Grand Strand as the golf capital of the world; more than 340 of the hundreds of courses in or near Myrtle Beach are members of the S.C. Golf Association, formed in 1929.

From his tee box at Riverside Golf Center, located on Garner Lane, All teaches local and visiting golfers, sometimes slicers and hookers practicing and playing their way to the Masters' or some other favorite tournament or course.

Teeing UP St. Andrews 1859

"Players like the ones we've seen around here in the last few weeks, inching their way to Augusta, help continue today a long- standing tradition in the state." said All.

"Vacationing northerners wintering here in tourist meccas like the Kirkwood Links in Camden, Aiken, or Summerville had a lot to do with the game's early popularity around here."

The Charleston native will talk during TartanFest about the game's evolution and some of the players who shaped public perception of the sport. "I grew up close to Charleston Municipal Course," recalled the former touring PGA pro.

"From hunting balls to shagging balls to caddying, and finally playing myself, I looked up to the local pros who had come back home after being on the tour. Ben Hogan was one of my heroes."

All came to Columbia to play on the USC golf team, and following his freshman year got a break that moved him onto the circuit. "I ended up, of all places, in Buffalo, N.Y. about this time of year. When I got there, there was still three feet of snow on the course."

Unable to get out and play, All contented himself by opening the pro shop door and chipping balls out the door into the snow. He didn't see those balls again until weeks later when the snow finally melted.

"As soon as the course was ready for play, golfers were coming in with low scores like 71, 69. I couldn't figure out how they could be playing so well after not being able to play for so many months."

All said he found out many of them had gotten a head start on their playing season by coming South to warm up.

"I heard them mentioning places like Pinehurst and Southern Pines," and that's when All recalled tourists who had frequented the Charleston municipal course on which he first learned, and fell in love with, the game.

All's golf talk during TartanFest will cover early golf history in the state and will come full circle to include contemporary play and players. Along with personal recollections, All will reference William Price Fox's Golfing in the Carolinas , and the golf section in the South Carolina Encyclopedia in his talk.

Golf will be celebrated during the day- long event with indoor golf for children.